


Big Brother Instinct

by icewhisper



Series: Holiday Cheer & Tears [3]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Gen, Len is just mentioned, M/M, This is probably the closest to fluff you will get all month
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-05 17:08:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16814887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icewhisper/pseuds/icewhisper
Summary: It wasn’t that Lisa didn’t remember Mick had had siblings once. She did. God, she remembered. Emma had been her best friend. Losing her and the others had hurt like nothing else she’d ever experienced. Seeing their dad hurt Lenny was always bad, but he came back. He healed. The Rorys hadn’t. They’d been buried in closed caskets while she cried, Lenny looked lost, and Mick looked like he wanted to be in a casket with them.





	Big Brother Instinct

It wasn’t that Lisa didn’t remember Mick had had siblings once. She did. _God_ , she remembered. Emma had been her best friend. Losing her and the others had hurt like nothing else she’d ever experienced. Seeing their dad hurt Lenny was always bad, but he came _back_. He healed. The Rorys hadn’t. They’d been buried in closed caskets while she cried, Lenny looked lost, and Mick looked like he wanted to be in a casket with them.

She’d spent a year after the fire being terrified that he would.

She was pretty sure Lenny had been too.

But grass grew back over disturbed soil, the land got sold, and life moved on. She kept a picture of her and the others hidden behind a picture of her and Lenny that she pulled out for every birthday. Mick knew about it. She’d caught him staring at it once and been halfway to stammering out an apology when he pressed a kiss to her forehead and thanked her for keeping it. They’d never talked about it again.

She loved him, partly because he loved Lenny and partly because he loved her, but mostly because he was a good person. Criminal or not, he’d taken care of them when Lenny utterly failed at operating like a real adult and saved them from weeks on end of ramen and pop tarts for dinner. He taught her how to cook and braided her hair before her skating competitions.

He’d brought her a shiny gold necklace when a job with her dad tore her ACL and her skating dreams went up in smoke. Four years later, she still wasn’t sure if he’d stolen it or not.

Lenny was her brother, but Mick was special to her and, arguably, a little more level-headed when it came to her.

Which was exactly why she called him instead of Lenny even though she knew the boys were on the outs again and begged him to come to her dorm. He told her he’d be there in four hours.

He got there in three, back stiff and a glance towards his waist and the way his jacket fell told her he was packing. “You okay?”

She opened her mouth to say _yes_ , because it was instinct and things were always okay now that she was at college and not living with their dad, but she closed her mouth again. Shook her head. “No,” she admitted and stepped aside for him. She closed the door behind her as he went to the side of the dorm that wasn’t a frilly monstrosity. “You can’t tell Lenny.”

“Lisa-”

“Dad’s got him doing jobs.” It wasn’t as if he needed the reminder. Lenny’s bargain with their dad that he’d work with him in exchange for Lisa going to college had been part of what had made him and Lenny call their not-relationship-that-definitely-was-a-relationship off again. Mick had wanted an alternative plan, one that kept Lenny away from Lewis and from the Family work he’d started dipping into. Lenny had been stubborn and scared of their dad digging his claws back into her. “I don’t want him getting distracted.”

“Lisa.”

“He’d kill the guy, Mick,” she argued. “He’d kill him and he’d either get caught or get himself killed.”

“What guy?”

She cringed a bit as she watched him cross his arms over his chest. “This…guy. I went on a couple dates with him.”

“You scam him?”

“Kind of?” she hedged. “I didn’t know he was a Santini. Third cousin of a second cousin, so he’s barely involved, but he’s got an uncle-”

“ _Lisa_ -”

“I didn’t know! He’s got a different last name!” she defended, grateful that her roommate wasn’t there to hear. “I’d pocketed a few things the last time I was at his apartment. Figured I could pawn them off or hand them off to that fence Lenny’s been working with.”

“But?” Oh. Oh. Yeah. He looked mad. He was giving her the look he gave Lenny that time Lenny had sold off his mom’s wedding ring to pay for her tuition. Granted, Mick had broken in and stolen it back with her help the same night, but _still_. There was anger and it wasn’t her dad’s kind of anger, but it made her squirm.

“I’d figured I’d just stop talking to him,” she explained. “Let it die off. It’s _college_. But he was waiting for me when I got out of class last week and he wasn’t really… _happy_ with the idea that I wasn’t interested anymore?” She paused, closed her eyes, and steeled herself. “He’s kind of been stalking me?”

“ _Lisa_!”

“See why I can’t tell Lenny? He’d kill a Santini and get himself killed.”

“ _I’m_ going to kill him,” Mick growled. “You know how to do your homework before you scam someone like that, Lisa. It’s fucking Central.”

“I did!”

“Not good enough!” He dragged a hand over the top of his head and she noticed absently that he’d shaved it. He looked better that way. “Just… Name. Description. Where does he hang out?”

“Gabriel Salvatore,” she sighed. “About 6’3’. Brown hair. Curly. Dresses in a lot of Ralph Lauren. He’s usually down at the campus bar. There’s a pool table.”

“He there now?”

“It’s Friday,” she pointed out. “Probably.”

Mick nodded. “Stay here.”

“What are you gonna do?”

Except Mick only kissed her forehead, handed her the textbook at the top of her pile, and left.

He came back three hours later with a bruise purpling on the right side of his jaw and a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

“What did you _do_?”

“Took care of it,” he said easily. “He ain’t gonna bother you again.”

She stared at him, horrified. “Did you kill him?”

“No,” he said and wouldn’t tell her any more.

“You’re going to get yourself killed,” she groaned. “You and my stupid brother are made for each other.”

“It’s what brothers do, kid,” he told her gently, the smile on his lips just a little sad. She followed his gaze over to the old picture of her and Lenny as if he could see the picture hidden underneath.

She swallowed thickly and nodded, suddenly feeling stupid. “Mick-”

He shook his head before she could apologize, but he held her back a little tighter than normal when she hugged him.

The End


End file.
